Daily Archives: April 2, 2013

General MacArthur – Carrie Stevens Streamer Pattern

The General MacArthur streamer was the most popular fly out of the four patriotic patterns Carrie Stevens created during World War II. The other three are the Casablanca, America, and Victory. The General MacArthur also proved to be an effective fishing fly, as revealed in a report of a 1942 fishing trip with H. G. Tapply, Editor of Hunting and Fishing magazine, and his wife. She caught ten landlocked salmon on the pattern in just two hours, while he managed to take only one fish on his favorite Dark Tiger.

General MacArthur -

General MacArthur – size #1 – 8x long Gaelic Supreme Martinek / Stevens Rangeley Style streamer hook. Tied and photographed by Don Bastian.

General MacArthur

Tag: Flat silver tinsel

Tail: Red, white, and blue hackle fibers in that order

Body: Flat silver tinsel

Throat: Red, white, and blue hackle fibers in that sequence

Wing: Two white hackles flanked on each side by one blue hackle, flanked on each side by one grizzly hackle

Cheeks: Jungle cock

Head: Three equal bands of red, white, and blue thread in that order

To view Don Bastian’s Patriotic Patterns – Carrie Stevens Collector’s Edition Set, visit:  http://www.myflies.com/Carrie-Stevens-Streamer-Patterns-Collectors-Edition-Set-No-3-P730.aspx

Demon – Carrie Stevens Streamer Pattern

The Demon pattern by Carrie Stevens is identical to the more well-known Golden Witch except the Demon has shoulders of Amherst pheasant. The Demon was posted earlier on my blog: https://donbastianwetflies.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/carrie-stevens-and-rangeley-style-streamers/

on January 13th of this year. The Amherst pheasant is a bit of a challenge to work with, as is golden pheasant for shoulders, but most of these difficulties can be solved by cementing the wing components in advance. I use Elmer’s Rubber Cement; but whatever adhesive you choose to use, it makes the feathers lay flat and makes them stay together. Forgotten Flies lists the Demon as a variation of the Golden Witch, but I believe it is a separate, unique pattern according to the Hilyard Carrie Stevens book.

This pattern also contains a correction of one of the components that I discovered differs from the printed recipe in Hilyard’s book. The sample Demon in the Hilyard book was tied by Carrie Stevens. Hilyard lists the throat as white hackle, but it is clearly a grizzly hackle fiber throat on the Demon tied by Carrie Stevens. Using her original pattern as the source, I made the change to the correct material. My sample is tied with a grizzly throat.

Demon -

Demon – size #1 – 8x long Gaelic Supreme Martinek/ Stevens Rangeley Style streamer hook. Fly tied and photographed by Don Bastian.

Demon

Listed in order of tie-in – differs from Hilyard’s listing slightly in that I created a separate listing for the underwing and list the throat as the final stage before setting the wing.

Tag:                    Flat silver tinsel

Body:                Orange floss

Ribbing:          Flat silver tinsel

Underbelly:  White bucktail

Underwing:   5 -6 strands peacock herl (I always use 6 for an even number, since I position the herl top side facing out on both sides of the fly

Throat:           Grizzly hackle fibers

Wing:                Four natural grizzly hackles

Shoulders:       Amherst pheasant tippet

Cheeks:          Jungle cock

Head:               Black with an orange band

Casablanca – Carrie Stevens Streamer Pattern

The Casablanca was one of four patriotic patterns that Carrie Stevens created during World War II to help generate support for the war effort. The film Casablanca probably provided the inspiration for Carrie to create this pattern. The other three flies are the America, General MacArthur, and Victory.

Casablanca -

Casablanca -#2 – 8x long, Gaelic Supreme Martinek/ Stevens Rangeley Style streamer hook. Tied and photographed by Don Bastian.

Casablanca

Tag: Flat silver tinsel

Tail: Red hackle fibers

Body: Flat gold tinsel

Underbelly: White bucktail

Throat: Red hackle fibers

Wing: Four white hackles flanked on each side by one slightly shorter dark violet hackle – I used claret, it’s close enough to dark violet to me. The sample in the Hilyard Carrie Stevens book appears to have outer wings of nearly black.

Cheeks: Jungle cock

Head: Three equal bands of red, white, and blue in that sequence

The Casablanca is one of just a handful of patterns where Carrie used gold tinsel on the body. The others are the Will Ketch, P.L.B. No. 1, P.L.B. No. 2, Orange Miller, and the Davis Special. The P.L.B. No. 2 in the Hilyard book lists “flat silver tinsel” for the body, but my eyes surely tell me the body I’m looking at on that fly tied by Leslie Hilyard is flat gold tinsel. I have corrected the recipe to the material that is actually on the fly, rather than the differing written component. That makes the most sense to me.

America – Carrie Stevens Streamer Pattern

I just finished tying eleven different Carrie Stevens streamer patterns for some of my orders. I decided to photograph them, carded, and then post them here with the recipes. A few of these flies have already been posted here, but my intent with this series is to simply post the fly and recipe, and maybe a few notes. They will be placed in my topic, Carrie Stevens Pattern Dictionary. Anytime you want to visit this category, you can select it under the “Category” list, or type in Carrie Stevens Pattern Dictionary in the search tab. I hope to expand this list as a reference source for interested fly tiers.

The America was one of four patriotic patterns that Carrie created during World War II to generate support for the war effort. The other three patterns are the General MacArthur, Casablanca, and Victory. All have heads finished with bands of red, white, and blue thread.

Here is the America:

America

America – size #1 – 8x long. Gaelic Supreme Martinek / Stevens Rangeley Style streamer hook. Tied and photographed by Don Bastian.

America

Tag: Flat silver tinsel

Tail: White hackle fibers

Body: Flat silver tinsel

Throat: White hackle fibers

Wing: Two white hackles flanked on each side by one red hackle, flanked on each side by one blue hackle

Cheeks: Jungle cock

Head: Equal bands of red, white, and blue in that sequence

To view or purchase Don Bastian’s Carrie Stevens Collector’s Edition Patriotic Set no. 3, visit:   http://www.myflies.com/Carrie-Stevens-Streamer-Patterns-Collectors-Edition-Set-No-3-P730.aspx